Google Releases the Cloud Print App for Android

If you’ve been using your smartphone or tablet for your printing needs, then you were expecting this for quite a while. The Google Cloud Print service has been around for quite a while, but just now Google has released the Cloud Print Android application for you to print files easier from your Android smartphone or tablet. If you ask me, this app is long overdue, but it’s still most welcome for Android users all over the world.

Up until now, there wasn’t a standalone and official Android application covering the Google Cloud Print service as users had to rely on third-party apps (official Cloud Print access being limited only to Chrome OS). The Google Cloud Print app will work, of course, only with Cloud Print enabled printers. You can set up your own printer to be Cloud Print enabled by following the instructions on the official webpage. Also, keep in mind that the file that you want to print still has to be “funneled through” your PC if you use a wired printer.

Within the app, you can also send files to other Android devices, save them to Google Drive as PDF files or track the status of your print jobs. Alex Chitu from Google Systems gives us a few important tips regarding the printing process with the Google Cloud Print Android app:

One way to print a file is using the “print” button from the application and selecting the file you want to print. Make sure you’ve installed a file manager like ES File Explorer or OI File Manager to be able to print other files than images. Another option is to use the “share” button or menu item from almost any Android app and select “Cloud Print”. For example, you can open a web page in Chrome for Android, pick “share” from the menu and you can print the entire page. You can also select some text from the page and print the text selection.

You will also have access to some settings on the printer, depending on the model, of course. But if you’ll pick one of the latest and greatest printers, then you should be able to choose things like the type of color, media and orientation, resolution, number of copies. Google Cloud Print will work on Android devices that run at least 2.3.3.